Open Ocean Chaos
by Percyfan1998
Summary: Mermaid AU. May and Max don't get along easily, but this is made worse when May gets permission to finally go out on her own, and Max doesn't take too kindly to it. Written for Mer-May.


_**Open Ocean Chaos**_

May Maple couldn't have been giddier if she tried to as she swam eagerly in circles. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she kept on cheering before darting straight towards her Father.

Norman felt the air leave his lungs as his daughter lunged at him. "May," he chuckled, "easy now! Now remember, just because me and your Mother say it's okay doesn't mean you shouldn't take care when you're out there. Who knows what danger –…"

"I know Dad! I know! I'm not a little girl anymore, you know?"

Norman laughed. "That you are certainly not! But remember," he said with a wink. "Be home before curfew."

"Of course." And with that May swam happily away, "Come along, Squirtle!" she said to her partner Pokémon who immediately swam after her out of the foyer.

She went eagerly to her room, but as she went through the massive foyer she passed a lone little figure, who flicked his dark green tail in annoyance as she passed. "Real happy about that, aren't you?" the boy asked.

"Oh of course!" May exclaimed happily, turning to her younger brother Max. Bubbles floating all around as she twirled, Max cringed at how ecstatic she looked.

"Tch, course you would."

"Oh? Jealous of me are we not?"

"Grr…it's just not fair, May! How come _you_ get to go out of town and explore the open ocean, a-and on your own at that, and not me?! It isn't fair!"

"Max, I'm older than you by three years. I'm fourteen now, you're eleven, so you can't go out on your own, mermaid law forbids it."

"Yeah, and you're fourteen and only now you're allowed by Mom and Dad to wander out to sea." Max had a point, under the rules of the sea mermaids would be officially allowed to go out alone at sea once they reached the age of thirteen, but only during daylight.

"Oh yeah… you're right. It's been one year since I could go out on my own… but only now I'm getting Mom and Dad's blessing to do so…"

"It must be because of how clumsy you are."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"So says the girl with a fresh bandage on her right cheek. How did you cut yourself again? Oh yes, I remember – it was yesterday and you got so excited over seeing Drew you swam into the path of a Floatzel using Razor Wind…"

"Ugh! You're just jealous of me Max!" May yelled, furiously blushing. Her Squirtle glanced nervously from one sibling to the other. Max smirked at her reaction, which only made May even angrier, she turned, flicked her fin at him – causing bubbles to crowd his face – before disappearing into her Clamperl bed, Squirtle hastily following after her. Max rolled his eyes as he took his glasses off to clean them, and then went off to sulk in some kelp. At least in there he could hide with his tail being the same color as the dark plants.

"It's not fair…" he mumbled to himself, "May gets to see all of Hoenn's waters and I'm stuck here, unable to go anywhere on my own…"

It wasn't to say that Max was a rebel at all, but he often thought of himself as better than everyone else around him. He judged all who didn't train their Pokémon correctly or didn't know how to act. He'd judge Ash Ketchum for never paying attention, and for his lack of judgement when training his water-type Pokémon; he'd judge May for her clumsiness, cockiness, her forcefulness in making him listen to her because of their age difference, and her huge appetite; he'd judge Dawn Berlitz for always caring too much about her looks, or whether or not she was wearing a 'different enough' sea-shell bra compared to one she wore the previous day; he'd judge Brock Slate for flirting too much with the other mermaids; he'd judge Misty Waterflower for her obvious on her crush on Ash.

Simply put, he was right, they were wrong. Why was it so hard for everyone not to get that through their heads? Either that or they all were born with a Quagsire's brain, which certainly explained his sister's clumsiness. But apparently to May, all that mattered was age, not knowledge, and Max was tired of it, she and her Pokémon weren't going to come out of their first ocean exploration without a scratch; that he was sure of.

He couldn't have been more wrong if he had tried. A few days later May set out for her first day alone, and when she came home that evening, not a scratch was on her, or any her Squirtle.

"Impossible!" Max spluttered. He swam up to May and circled her a few times, trying to spot any damage, but every part of his sister's body was okay. He red tail was perfect condition, her fin was still in one piece, her torso was okay, her hair was the same as ever, and her face looked completely unharmed.

"Oh sweetie, it's so good that you can manage out there so well on your own," their Mother Caroline cheered. "You are turning out to be such a strong and independent young mermaid dear."

May blushed. "Aw Mom stop, you're embarrassing me!"

"Aw, can't a Mother be proud of her little mermaid, who's growing up to be so pretty and independent? You're the apple of mine and your Father's eyes."

Max meanwhile was gritting his teeth, no way was there _wasn't_ any damage to be seen, he was sure of that.

"Come here, Squirtle!" he said, swimming quickly to catch the Tiny Turtle Pokémon. Squirtle however panicked, and tried to run away. "Hey! I said get back here!"

"Max!" May cried out. "What are you doing to my Squirtle?" Max ignored her and kept on chasing Squirtle, with an extra push of his fin however he caught up and grabbed it.

"Ah hah!" he cheered, and began to fumble with Squirtle's shell, looking the young Pokémon all over, Squirtle squirming all the while. But as he looked all over, not a scratch was found anywhere, Squirtle was harm free. "No way…"

"Yes _way_ ," May said, hands on her hips, her blue eyes staring coldly at him, sending shivers down Max's spine. "And I'd appreciate if you would let go of my Pokémon."

"Sure," Max said uncomfortably as his hands allowed Squirtle to swim away. May opened her arms as the Tiny Turtle Pokémon rushed to her and gave it a big hug, she glared at her brother and with a flick of her hair stormed away. Caroline swore she saw a slight tear leave one of her daughter's eyes as she passed.

"You would think my own brother would be proud of me…" May said barely above a whisper. Caroline saw her son's expression and quickly turned to see her daughter's figure slumped over, this wasn't going to be easy to fix… Max was just about to swim off when he noticed his Mother swimming over to him.

"Max," Caroline began gently, "I know that you want to go out and explore yourself but—…"

"But the law forbids you from doing so unless it's under exceptional circumstances."

"Oh, um, well – it's good to know you read up on the rules of our society Max. But you see you're just not ready to go out on your own yet."

"I am too!" Max huffed. "I may not look like it but I could _easily_ manage on my own. I know enough about it to be able to handle myself. Much better than what May could do—…"

"Maximillian," Caroline said firmly, Max flinched from the use of his proper name, "it's one thing to read about it, but it's another to actually experience what it's like on the ocean, your sister has just had that experience and as you can tell she's perfectly fine. But you're not helping her confidence in having her own independence when you're constantly criticizing her."

"S-sorry, Mom…" Max murmured. Caroline sighed and put a hand to head, her two kids could be very rambunctious and feisty, and by Kyogre's wrath she often wondered if she did something in a previous life to deserve such difficulties. But she always thought the best of it.

"Max," she rallied again, her son looked up. "I know you can't wait to start having some independence of your own, but you're just going to have to be patient."

"I'll try Mom," Max said. A frown on his face, not sure if he could handle such a task, so with a heavy mind he turned around and swam for his Clamperl shaped bed.

Unfortunately the calm was before the storm. Max and May's beds were right beside each other, Max was still laying on his bed when May returned from wherever she had been. She glared at him as she approached, Max opened to his mouth to say something but he stopped when he saw May's hard expression, her eyes red and blood veins peeking out, evident that she had been crying for a while. As she passed, she gave a sharp move of her tail, sending the force of the water movement into Max's face, he gave a bit of a cry of shock.

"Jeez, what a baby," she mocked, "easily unsettled by a bit of current changing. Oh, it's not like the same thing happens out on the ocean with ferries passing you, and large Pokémon moving about. But oh, I don't know, Mr. Know-it-all here probably would be prepared for that! Huh Max?!" May's eyes were angry and daring, Max was stunned. He could follow what his superego was saying and apologize to May for his rudeness, or do what his id was suggesting, be cocky and rile her up more than she already is.

His id won. "Actually yes May. I would be bettered prepared for going out onto the ocean better than you could ever be," he said condescendingly. "It's a miracle you somehow didn't get a scratch considering the dangers of rocks and large Pokémon. I would've been away for twice as long and come back unharmed, you wouldn't last half that."

"I-I… y-you…JERK! I am your older sister, how dare you speak that way to me! You couldn't survive out on the coast for five minutes I bet!" May snapped, she turned and swam into her bed and shut the Clamperl with a resounding thud. Her upset tears were very audible, even if they were muffled. When he heard that, Max felt his heart sink, but even if he felt some degree of compassion for May, he grew angry at the thought of what she just said. He would show her, she had no right to think she was better than he could be.

 **O** o **O** o **O**

The sibling feud didn't cool off easily. For weeks they refused to talk to each other. May complained openly with her friends about her brother, and Max did the same, only he didn't really have anyone to sympathize with – the other children weren't as stubborn as Max, so they didn't see what the fuss was about. Plus to them, Max was just the stubborn teacher's pet or the nerd kid of the area, and when news of his latest grievance got around, the kids wasted no time spreading the news like electricity and making fun of him.

"Hey look, there's Max."

"I heard he got into a huge fight with his sister over going onto the ocean."

"What would he want to go out onto the ocean? He wouldn't actually last five minutes."

"I think the oceans overrated anyways."

Max seethed quietly as he swam past. "Hey Max!" one kid shouted upon noticing him. "Don't go ticking your sister off any further ya runt!"

"Or getting any silly ideas above your station!" The kids laughed at their own wit.

This made Max even angrier and he sped off. "Aww, did we hurt poor little brother Max's feelings? Is he gonna go and have a fit and hide under his kelp again?"

"Stupid kids…they don't understand at all!" he hissed under his breath.

As he swam off, a little not that much older than he was watched. Curious as to what just happened she swam after Max. "Hey," she called out, getting close.

Max turned around and blinked, not pleased to see her. "What do you want, Brianna?" he asked, recognizing a friend of May's.

"Well it's just – um – I overheard what happened back there," she began, "and I was wondering if you were…"

"I'm fine," Max answered, annoyed.

"Well it's just that I heard you've been feeling jealous of May and I just wanted to say…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Max bit back.

"But don't you want to…"

"I have things to do," Max rudely interrupted, "I can't be floating around right now, waste of time." And before Brianna could say anything else, he turned and swam away.

"Wait!" she called. But Max didn't hear her. He swam in between rocks and through busy sections of the underwater city, trying to shake Brianna off his tail but the redhead was persistent. Finally, he swam swiftly through a narrow space between two buildings, and came out just as a school of Chinchou came passing by, he barely avoided hitting the leading ones. Brianna had to stop before she ran into the little Pokémon.

"Heh," Max smirked as he looked back over his shoulder and saw that Brianna was trapped. "That's good, no more interference…"

"Hey," Misty scolded at Brianna, having noticed the two kids racing about recklessly as she helped lead the Chinchou. "Watch where you're going, you could've hurt the Chinchou."

Brianna was too embarrassed to say anything and weakly offered an apology. But as she waited for the Chinchou to pass, she couldn't help but be worried about what Max was up to. Because once that kid got something in his mind, he would persist…

Ash meanwhile had just gotten back from his birth-water of the Kanto sea and was looking forward to being in the waters between Slateport City and Dewford Town again. As he and his Oshawott went through the entrance to the city, he was surprised to see Max swimming around. "Hello, what're you doin' out here all by yourself?" Ash asked as he approached.

"Ash!" Max quickly said, stopping to stare at Ash. "Tell me," he paused a bit before launching in one breath, "tell me what it's like being out there on the ocean?!"

Ash was rather affronted by the sudden request. "Um, well y'see it's all big, and wide…lot's a ferries and Trainer's travelling on top of rafts or their Pokémon usually pass you by so you have to keep low to the ocean's floor…you kinda got to be mindful of certain Pokémon…um, yeah, that's all I got."

"I see," Max said, "thanks Ash!"

"Uh, okay," Ash replied, rather confused. He looked over awkwardly at his Oshawott who shrugged; Ash turned back to Max, a quizzical look on his face and narrowed his eyes at the younger merman. "I hope you aren't going to try something that you shouldn't be doing."

"What? Me? No way, I've been trying to get May to tell me about what she's seen out on the ocean but she refuses to talk to me, she'd rather talk to Drew all day, so I decided to ask you as I was just curious, that's all," Max said, a fake smile adorning his face. Ash shrugged having not heard anything about the recent sibling feud and decided that he had no reason to be suspicious of Max's intentions, and went on his way. Max watched him go, smirking.

"He always was a clueless one," he chuckled. And after checking that the coast was clear, he set off down the ocean, into waters he wasn't even supposed to be in.

Brianna had just caught up, and watched with horror as Max swam farther and farther away into the ocean. She panicked, as Ash had just swam out of sight, she had to go get help from somewhere else.

At first Max was a bit unnerved by his new surroundings, but soon was feeling relaxed as he came across schools of wild Pokémon some distance away. He laughed as he was surrounded by happy wild Goldeens, Remoraids, the clusters of peaceful Clamperls, and a large floating Wailord.

He was having fun. "Pah," he chortled, "May and the others say it's too dangerous for a kid like me without a Pokémon coming out onto the ocean is too dangerous. But I don't see any danger – it's just like back home!" Max had no clue how long he was out there, but he was having the time of his life, so much so he closed his eyes and floated in a wave of contentedness.

His eyes shot open when he heard a loud explosion, he quickly spun out of his daze and was surprised to be facing a cliff face instead of water. He had somehow drifted from the open water and had been pushed towards the land. No Pokémon could be seen, Max felt a bit scared.

Unbeknownst to him, two Trainers were battling it out on the cliff top. One of their Pokémon struck the ground with an attack, sending debris cascading down the side of the cliff and into the water. Max had to swim quickly to avoid getting hit the rocks. "Hey!" he shouted pointlessly. "Watch what you're doing, there are Pokémon and mermaids down here you know!"

As he kept up with his tirade, Max failed to notice two glowing red eyes staring out at him…

"…I mean really, you humans ought to know your place and…a-and…" Max froze when he noticed what was staring at him. A Sharpedo, a renowned, infamous Pokémon among all Pokémon and mermaid kind, known to be so aggressive, human researchers took to calling their kind as the 'Brutal Pokémon', or just simply 'bully Pokémon'. Max tensed under its eyes. Normally his intelligence would tell him to stand totally still and wait for the Pokémon to scram, but with the sediment blocking the Brutal Pokémon's view, to it, Max looked like a huge score of food…

Max yelped and tried to swim away, but Sharpedo chased after him. "Ah! Get away, get away!" Max yelled. He tried swimming as quick as he could through the rocks to loose Sharpedo, but unlike Brianna, Sharpedo was an incredibly fast resident of the sea.

Max felt his eyes stinging, he was scared, his eyes wide as he tried to get away. He ducked under rock structures and swam through kelp, but Sharpedo kept up the chase. Frightened, Max found himself losing stamina, and to his horror, had ran out of places to hide, he was stuck between an ridge of the coast, and the Pokémon.

Sharpedo smirked, it was time to eat. "Shar!" it yelled, and charged forward, Max shut his eyes, feeling his life flash before him.

"Squirtle, use Hydro Pump, now!" yelled a familiar voice. Max looked up having heard the melodious voice. Suddenly Sharpedo was stuck by some huge jets of water, rotating in circles. He looked frantically around, and saw her. Red tail kicking to keep her afloat, her brown hair wavering in the ocean's current. It was May.

"Good job, Squitle, nice attack," she complimented to her partner. She turned angrily towards the stunned Sharpedo. "You leave my brother alone," she said in a dangerously low voice.

"Sis!" Max barely cried out, his voice caught in his throat.

Sharpedo meanwhile recovered from the attack and directed its attention to the Tiny Turtle. It gave a battle cry and charged with Crunch. May's eyes failed to waver in fear at the sight of the incoming attack. "Brace yourself, now!" Squirtle tucked into its shell and braced for impact.

Sharpedo bit down on Squirtle's shell, its jaw feeling sore at how hard it was. It angrily chucked the shell away, Squirtle emerged, smirking.

"Now use Tackle!" Squirtle charged at Sharpedo and made contact. The Brutal Pokémon wasn't finished yet and tried to use Slash. May quickly had Squirtle dodge it, and had the Tiny Turtle use Ice Beam, weakening Sharpedo further.

"Shar! Sharpedo!" Sharpedo yelled in annoyance, charging forward with an Aqua Jet.

"Here it comes, Squirtle!" May called, she turned to Max and gave a confident grin, and winked at him, Max was unsure what to say, he had never seen May battle with such focus before. Sharpedo was coming in close, but was slowed down due to being chilled. "Use Skull Bash!"

Squirtle tucked in its head, raising its defenses up and Sharpedo collided into its shell, sending it flying. Squirtle emerged from the attack glowing white and charged full on at Sharpedo, striking it head on. Sharpedo whimpered in pain and cried its name out pathetically as it swam away.

"Yes! Great job Squirtle," May cheered, quickly hugging her partner. She just as quickly however let it go and swam immediately over to Max.

"You have some nerve," she scolded. "You go behind mine, Mother and Father's backs and decide to go off on your own thinking no one would see you?! You're a terrible little kid, Max, a real jerk for everything you've said to me. You're lucky Brianna saw what you were doing and came to get me to save your sorry tailfin."

Max quivered from May's harsh tone, his shoulders shaking and the tears were coming out – May saw this and her angry expression turned soft.

"Are you all right?" she asked with a gentle tone.

"I…I-I'm…s-s-so sorry," Max said shakily between his sobs. "I'm sorry, I was so jealous, it's my fault. You were right I am just a kid, I t-thought I could handle myself b-but I c-c-couldn't. I…" he couldn't go any further, and broke down into tears. "S-s-scary, th-that wa-was so scary," he sobbed. His fright was obvious to May as she saw her usually strong willed brother hug himself in fright.

"Max…" she soothed. "I…"

"No!" Max yelled, letting himself go to yell at her, eyes closed. "My fault, I'm stupid, I…I…" his emotions were too overwhelming and he just floated there with tears flowing down his face, stinging them. May watched helplessly, Squirtle cooed awkwardly. May sighed, she only knew one way to remedy this situation.

Max kept on sniffling piteously, when suddenly he felt something soft and silky touch his chin. He stopped, and along with the sounds of the current he heard a soft humming noise. It was the old lullaby their Mom use to hum to him at night.

He opened his eyes and looked up, and saw that the soft thing touching his chin was May's tailfin, rubbing him gently as she floated in front, her back facing the sea floor, eying Max over her stomach as she continued to softly hum, her lips parting gently to let the melody out. Max stared, speechless.

May stopped once Max made eye contact with her, and gently moved her tail away from him and floated forward. "Been a while since I've had to comfort you like that, hasn't it?" she asked, as she brought a hand gently to her brother's shoulder.

"I…I'm sorry," Max muttered. "For everything, thanks for…s-saving me."

"You're welcome, and don't worry about it," May soothed. "I'm sorry as well." Max stared, unsure, May giggled at her brother's density. "I'm sorry about my part in this whole stupid argument. I shouldn't have said any of the mean things that I said to you, I didn't mean any of it. You're my little brother, I'm supposed to keep you safe and be a good sister and love you as a family member." Max stared, awed and humbled by his sister's words. May held one of her hands out, "Come on, let's go home."

As they swam along back for home, Max noted how scarred she was, cuts all over her arms and waist, whereas he didn't have as much on him. She was probably going to tell their parents about everything that happened – he was going to be in big, _big_ , trouble for sure.

Caroline set her book down and swam over in shock when she saw the injuries her two kids had sustained, especially on May's body.

"Where have you two been?!" she shrieked as they came in. "And do why you both look as if a Rock Slide fell on to you?! Oh goodness Kyogre knows, no time for explanations. May," she instructed, "on the couch, now." May did so. As she laid down to rest, their Mother came over and began to examine her. "What happened?"

Max froze and felt as if a Freeze-Dry had just been used on him. He was sure May would spill everything.

"Oh you know me Mom, always running into things, often not paying attention and getting injured – and today I ended up taking Max into it with me, it was quite the rough up," May said, keeping a straight face the whole time. Caroline stared and looked at May's tail. Max meanwhile turned around and stared at May, who subtly winked at him when their Mother wasn't looking and mouthed 'Leave this to me'.

"Well then," Caroline huffed after figuring her daughter was telling the truth, "you young lady will not be out and about for a while if I can help it. I'll need the medical kit to patch your tail up – Max dear, go and wash up – I'll tend to you later and don't agitate your scratches or it'll get worse."

"Okay Mom," Max said, still feeling awed. He left the area, stunned by his sister's lie – May meanwhile just smiled as she watched her little brother go, they didn't always get along. But just this once, she was willing to let things rest between them. It was the least she could do as a big sister.

 **O** o **O** o **O**

 **Author's Note:** A little something I decided to conjure up as a gift for Mer-May month. I actually kinda based this whole 4,335 word fic on an existing idea I had for the Maple twins because I thought it'd be cool to explore May and Max in a family dynamic. Shout outs to TrainerAshandRed35 for the commissioned artwork.


End file.
